1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a headphone and an ear pad which are desirably applied to a headphone of the behind-the-ear fixing type used for such as a portable music player, for example.
2. Description of the Related Art
Since a headphone of the behind-the-ear fixing type (hanger-ear type) is of a configuration in which an ear hook hanger and a headphone section having a speaker unit built therein sandwich a soft ear of a person, and the weight of the headphone section itself is supported to be attached to the ear, it is significantly difficult to attach the headphone of this fixing type to the right and left ears stably (for example, refer to Patent Document 1: Jpn. Pat. Appln. Laid-Open Publication No. 2001-112081).
This hanger-ear type headphone is not of the sound-isolating type which covers the right and left ears but of the open-air type, which is generally used as a light type headphone giving an opened feeling and producing a pure sound, and is often used for the out door use.
As the external appearance characteristics of the open-air type, as is referred to as the open-air, the opened area at the front surface as well as that at the rear surface of the speaker unit is made large as much as possible so as to improve the air permeability.
On the other hand, generally, in the sound-isolating type, the front surface of the speaker unit is provided with a sewn fun fur or a deposited ear pad suppressing the air permeability, while the rear surface is covered by a housing in the form of a dome.
An ear pad, which is one part of acoustic adjustment parts, is an important element to disperse a pressure to the skin and give a comfortable feeling when a headphone is fixed to the user. To give greater importance to make the user feel light when the headphone is fixed to the user, the hanger-ear type headphone of the open-air type has to make the lateral pressure small.
In the past, while two pieces of urethane foam of the ester series, which can be deposited, have their outer circumferences deposited, or urethane foam of the ether series which is bored by a heat ray is used, there is raised a problem of the repulsion force of an ear pad in matching the ear pad to ears of various figurations due to the differences among individuals, which makes it difficult to satisfy all the users when the ear pad is fixed to the users.
Especially, while the hanger-ear type headphone is general as a category which is simple and convenient, and is provided with the fashionability, the headphone does not have a headband, which makes the lateral pressure to make the ear pad in close contact with the ear small, and does not have a hook to the ear hole which is provided in the inner-ear type.
Under the method of fixing the hanger-ear type headphone, since an ear hook hanger and a headphone section having a speaker unit built therein sandwich a soft ear, and the weight of the headphone section itself is supported to be attached to the ear, it is significantly difficult to attach the headphone of this fixing type to the right and left ears stably.